Long way to go

I spent three days in Vientiane, the capitol of Laos, which was just the right amount of time. Two would probably have been fine; there wasn't much to see and it wasn't as pastorally post-colonial pleasant as Lunag Prabang.

However, I had a great time. My first morning there I met some older gentlemen, two Aussies and a Canadian who were there to secure some mining contracts. They invited me to dinner that night, and I think it was the best meal I've had since I left NYC. Carpaccio, homemade fresh mozzarella, beautifully prepared duck, wine like velvet. A real treat!

The next day I went sightseeing with Chris while his brother and the Canadian were in meetings with a prime minister or something. We saw several monuments, including a four-sided arch. The highlight for me was Buddha Park, about a 40 minute ride outside of town. It was created about in the late 1960's, full of traditional and post-modern statues. My favorite was a giant round thing you could go inside with three stories representing hell, earth, and heaven, like a 3-D mandala.

Yesterday I took an overnight train back to Bangkok, where I am staying for one night in a cheap guesthouse straight out of The Beach. I'm flying to Singapore tomorrow though, and scouted out a better place to stay when I get back to Bangkok on Monday.

Overall, I really liked Laos. People say it's like Thailand was 15 years ago, though one of the things I like about Thailand is its infrastructure, such a welcome change after India (municipal trash collection! really!). It's supposed to be a lot cheaper outside of the cities I went to; it's an extremely poor country. With that comes some heavy stuff, of course: it's the most heavily bombed country in the world, full of unexploded bombs and a really depressing amount of ongoing slash and burn agriculture.

But the people are very chill, and I loved the French influence, especially over food. Officially it's Laos, P.D.R., but everyone jokes that the acronym refers not to the Communist Party, but Please Don't Rush. Maybe it's the oppressive humidity, but nothing happens quickly there. Except my visit: I just had ten days. I suspect I'll be back to this area again though, I still need to see Cambodia and Vietnam.

Posted by j3s at 09:41 AM | Permalink

I just confirmed a flight to Singapore next weekend! I'm going there for a few days to visit my friends from NYC, Eric and Camille, the ones I met up with in Koh Lanta. They've been working there for the second winter in a row, painting roller coasters (they're scenic artists). I never had a huge desire to go to Singapore and they particularly enjoy living there, but I figure why not? It's a free place to stay and friends to show me around, and when else am I going to go?

With that confirmed, I just booked two more tickets: the bus to Vientiene (Laos), and the train to Bangkok (where I'm flying to Singapore from). And now, holy shit, no more travel bookings (since my flight to Hong Kong is booked and I don't plan on doing much travelling around there)! No more logistical figuring, travel agent hassles, timetable juggling, and decision-making: I'm done booking!! So strange.

The standard thing to do when leaving Luang Prabang (which I have been loving for the last four days) is to head to Vang Vieng before going on to Vientiene. Van Vieng is where all the backpackers go tubing down the river, floating from one bar to the next; no one can believe that I'd dream of skipping it. But I'm taking a pass for the same reason that I didn't go to Pai in Thailand: I'm kind of tired of the early-20's backpacker scene. It's not something I really noticed in India, but then again you generally get a different type of traveller there. In Southeast Asia the hoards of young backpackers seem intent on partying hard and moving on to the next place, and frankly that makes me feel a bit old.

So I'm taking a pass on the whole tubing thing in favor of a more extended stay in Luang Prabang. I've been hanging out with a woman I met on the two-day slow boat down the Mekong. She's a year older than I (34), just finished teaching in Thailand, and also exhausted of the party-harders. We've been lazily exploring the town: went to a waterfall, took a boat to some caves full of Buddha statues, stopped at a whiskey-making and weaving village, climbed the big hill in town to explore the temple compound there (it has a Buddha's footprint imprint that I'm not kidding, I could curl up and take a nap in). Tomorrow we're renting bicycles and riding around the countryside. Ahh, the slow life!

Posted by j3s at 01:35 PM | Permalink

...and bought an umbrella. It's not monsoon season yet, but everyone says the rains have started early this year. Wow, such rains they are. You can literally see the downpour in the rainbow umbrella impromptu photoshoot we did the last night at Koh Lanta:

The first night of the documentary shoot we stayed in a very rural village with a small hill tribe. After a few beers and some interviews we collapsed on our bedrolls, it was quite a long day. Then around 3am one of the most intense storms I have ever experienced rolled in. Constant thunder, lightning, rain in sheets. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep until the roof started leaking, at which point it was a mad scramble to make sure the equipment was ok, and to relocate to the lower level. That was fine until the rain started leaking through the second story floor onto us; fortunately they had a tarp on hand., and the cameras were fine. I was too sleepy to take any epic storm photos, though I took one of our second sleeping spot the next morning:

Since I've been in Laos it's rained every day. The aforementioned umbrella was purchased in another downpour, yet somehow rain managed to come through it, and I was totally soaked from the waist down. Fortunately it's not constant yet; we had some nice sun today for the waterfall in which I went swimming.

Posted by j3s at 01:57 PM | Permalink

After three days running around north Thailand filming for the documentary (extended entry on that forthcoming) and then taking a two day slow boat trip down the Mekong (photos forthcoming as well), I'm ready to kind of park it in one place for a while. Fortunately, I'm in a great place to spend some relatively extended time: Luang Prabang, Laos. It feels very French-colonial, as someone said, "Like you're in an Agatha Christie mystery."

I did get some pretty bad food poisoning one of the boat ride nights, fortunately it didn't hit till we were docked and I was in a guesthouse; I'm feeling much better today. However, after staring at a ceiling fan for hours and taking a boat down the Mekong, I really want to re-watch Apocalypse Now.

Posted by j3s at 10:07 AM | Permalink